Bob and Greg Green, age 7 and 8, of Rocky River, Ohio for their question:

How long can, you keep a wooly bear caterpillar?

There is just one snag in making a pet of a caterpillar. It won 1t stay a caterpillar. Sooner or later the hungry fellow will retire into a cocoon or a chrysalis and go to sleep. When he comes out of his resting place he will be either a moth or a butterfly.

However, if you are both lucky and careful, you may keep a fuzzy wooly bear caterpillar all winter long. For this black and red banded fellow eats his way through the winter months. Make sure you feed him plenty of green plantain leaves and such for, being a caterpillars he is always hungry.

Come spring, your fuzzy pet will clothe himself in a cocoon of  colored hair and go to sleep. Try to be there on that late summer’s day when he wakes up again. It is well worth your time to watch a dainty blond moth emerge from her bed, dry her wings, and flutter off into the dusk.